Christ the Judge

1447
Fresco
Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto

In the summer of 1447 Fra Angelico, assisted by Benozzo Gozzoli and several other minor artists, had painted a fresco of the Prophets in one of the triangular ceiling vaults and Christ the Judge in another in the Chapel of San Brizio, a large Gothic construction built around 1408 in the Orvieto Cathedral. The remaining sections of the ceiling were painted by Luca Signorelli in 1499-1502.

In the centre of the quadrant above the altar, Christ proffers the globe of the universe as he raises his right hand to summon the dead from their graves. Seated upon banks of clouds against a golden background, he radiates a gilded aureole of light, the scintillating rays of which illuminate the faces and garments of the seraphim surrounding him.